Rams Men’s Tennis Team Falls Short to No. 20 Bears

BLUEFIELD, VA- Bluefield College men’s tennis team faced tough competition to start in Mid-South Conference play against nationally ranked University of Pikeville.

Adriana Moreno

March 26, 2014

The Rams competed in their first match of the conference on Tuesday March 11 at Bob Amos Park falling 8-1 to Pikeville University, which is ranked No. 20 in the nation.

A great start came from Carlton Tugman and Lochlan Kitchen at No. 1 doubles after a game-winning thriller put the team 1-0 over Pikeville. Tugman and Kitchen topped Sven Rodenbusch and Francois Billet after saving two match points and ending with the 9-7 win in the tiebreaker.

Bluefield was unable to pull off another win with Markel Aramberri and Borja Jiminez losing 8-4 against Pawel Tarasewicz and Marcos Sernandez Fondelius at No.2 doubles, and third-seeded Chas Stonestreet and James Gunn lost 8-2 against Connor Smith and Dmitry Babenkov.

The team struggled in single matches, not being able to take a win. Lochlan Kitchen came close but went down 6-4, 6-3 at the top seed against Rodensbusch with Markel Aramberri following with a loss to Billet 6-4, 6-1. Although the Rams fought competitively in the final four matches, the scores were not a good indication of their performance.

“It’s good to know that we as a team can be competitive with a nationally ranked team such as Pikeville and I am looking forward to the rest of the season,” sophomore transfer Carlton Tugman said.